Strumming In Smoky Perfumed Rooms
by reginassthief
Summary: Prompt. Oneshot. Finders Keepers Verse. Part One. OQ Singer in a smoky room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume . Do what you wish with this. Thank you :D -Clare. Robin teaches Regina how to play the guitar.


She's cocooned within the quilts, wrapped up in the blankets keeping her warm from the cold air. She doesn't want to leave her slumber, too many nights spent awake playing pass-the-parcel, she being the latter. She's passed around, only there's no music, and they all take turns opening her up, tugging on the laces of her blue dress until they come loose. Sometimes it's done in privacy, dragged to the nearest vacant room. Other times, it's done right there in the open for others to watch, and ache, and drool.

She doesn't have to worry about all that here, though. She doesn't mean in sleep, she means with him, tucked away in the furthest rooms away, left to themselves. Here, she can believe that he really loves her, that she isn't a whore and he isn't a lord, that there isn't a jealous red head waiting in the distance for the day she's married to him.

Regina has often wondered what would happen when the wedding day comes. He's an honourable man, she's gathered that much, so would these visits stop? The dances that take place in the night, would they just stop and he never thinks of her again? Or would he still come see her, even if the visits happen less often? She knows she shouldn't worry about these things. Mal told her that she should just focus on what was happening now, to let the faces of those who use her blur together so she can't remember one person from the next. It had worked, for a long time actually, until she had heard the music playing in the front room and sitting in the corner, was him, lost within the music he was strumming from his guitar.

It was strange at first. He never touched any of them. He would just spend hours in that corner, playing whatever tune, some pre-made, some original and thought up in the moment. Regina guessed it was to offer some sort of comfort for the them- she and the other whores. They'd flutter around them, especially the younger ones, and become the 12 year olds they were meant to be, lost in daydreams of a better life. That would be until Mal came along and told them dreaming wouldn't give them a place to sleep and they'd all scatter away from that corner- their safe haven- and enter the rooms of hell. He kept playing, though. At least each night he would try to visit them and play in that corner.

That was until Leo paid a visit one day and after finishing his round with Regina, he found him. From behind the door, Regina listens to the conversation behind the door as Leo tells him this is _a paying house_ and _that guitar has never given me money._ There's a moment's pause, some footsteps halting, when Leo's voice sounds again. _You can carry on your little tune but only if the money is paid._

That same tune she first heard him play all those months ago is fully pulling her out of her sleep now. She shifts, the blankets and covers moving with her as her eyes open.

Darkness covers everything outside as Regina realises she hasn't been asleep for as long as she thought. The candles littered around bathe the room in a soft orange glow. When she breathes in slightly, she can smell the jasmine perfume Leo likes to spray. Closing her eyes, she snuggles back down into the sheets. It's nice. She feels safe. Happy. Something she hasn't felt since she first arrived.

But then the music stops. The safety disappears and her eyes open suddenly. She sits up, the covers untangling around her as a panicked, _Why did you stop playing?_ falls out of my mouth before she can stop it.

He looks up from the instrument, his eyes wide, surprised she's awake.

They stare at each other for a brief second before his eyes wanders away back down to the guitar. ''My fingers started hurting.'' he says and the panic leaves Regina. She wonders why she was even panicked at all.

''I'm sorry if I woke you.'' his voice sounds again.

Regina shakes her head. ''You didn't,'' then she sighs and shifts to sit on her knees as her legs become annoyingly tangled in sheets and her nightgown. ''Well, you did, but I don't mind.''

He smiles and begins playing again, the music filling the room once more. Regina bites her lip, cocking her head to the side slightly as she watches, wondering if she should ask him. She doesn't see any wrong in it, he's probably taught loads of people, and maybe the song could be her...safe haven when things get bad here.

She breathes in slightly, her fingers playing with the covers as she asks, ''Can...can you teach me?''

He looks up again. She sees him frown a little as he registers what she's just said. Then he nods. ''Sure.''

She breathes out, feels the tension release as she untangles herself from the sheets and crawls over to the end of the bed. When she's seated herself and finds a comfortable position to sit in, he begins showing her the chords.

''Right,'' he begins, a little unsteady. ''You need a C chord, G chord, A minor chord, F chord, and an E minor chord.'' Each time he said the letter, his finger with brush the chord. ''Now. I'm only going to teach you the beginning otherwise we'll be here all day.'' he finishes with a light chuckle, one that can't stop Regina from smiling, too. ''I'll go first, then you, okay?''

Regina nods as he begins to play. She tries to get lost in it, like she had before, but the moment it begins, the moment it seems to end and it's her turn now.

He hands the guitar out to her and she takes it, biting her lip, her hands all over the place. It's huge, seemingly taken up the whole of her body and when she goes to play it, her fingers brush against the wrong chord. She lets out a slightly frustrated sigh and cringes.

''It's okay,'' she hears Robin say. ''There's nothing to worry about. But...what if we tried another way?''

He pushes at her body slightly and Regina frowns before realising and moving forward. Robin sits behind her and pulls her back towards him. He snakes his arms around her and the guitar, places one hand on her right and the other on her left as he guides her fingers on the chords. They go from C to G to A minor and so on, again and again, until she gets it. Regina can't help the smile that begins to form as she lets her fingers go limp and lets Robin guide them through the rest of the song.

The smile won't go away and it's the happiest she's ever felt, can feel the ball of _happy_ inside her. Safe in this room, away from all the people who only want one thing from her. None of them would sit and teach her how to play a song on a guitar. None of them would of stayed in the room while she slept. Regina lets her smile fade, her fingers still being lead by Robin, and she comes to realise that he isn't like the others, she knows that now. Not one at had at in the corner of the room and played for them. Not one...but him.

He isn't like the others.

He _cares._

She feels air begin to blow in her ear and she realises he's singing.

 _Just a small town girl_ _  
_

_Livin' in a lonely world_ _  
_

_She took the midnight train_ _  
_

_Goin' anywhere_

The smile returns and so does the ball of happiness. She turns her head slightly, captures his lips with hers and it's everything she ever wanted from someone. It's sweet, and tender, and so full of _love_ and _care._ His fingers stop moving, they catch the last chord creating a very ungraceful sound. Robin pushes the guitar away. It hangs precariously at the edge of the bed but neither of them can bring themselves to care as she turns and straddles him and they both fall back onto the bed.

Later, when they're both sleepy and sated, (and the guitar, thankfully, resting against the wall in one piece) Regina begins to let herself fall back into the dream world before Robin's finger pokes her nose slightly, stopping her from doing just that.

Too tired for words, she lets out a quiet, sleep-ridden _hmm_ and Robin turns onto his side, his hand coming up to stroke her ribs to her hip. He repeats the motion and a silence passes through them (Regina almost falling asleep) before Robin's voice is pulling her out of it.

''I can take you away from this place.''

That. _That_. Has her eyes opening. She slowly blinks away the sleepiness as she looks at him, sees the truth and honesty in his blue eyes.

She's thought about it. Though about what it would be like to just leave and never come back but...this is her only home...the only home she's known for a long time. And it's many bad things but...it's a roof over her head and a bed to sleep in- even if she has to share it with some stranger to keep it- what would she do? Become a thief again? Live on scraps? Or would he take her back to his home? To his family and is...

Suddenly, she remembers. None of this was supposed to happen. He should have done what Leo wanted and gone again. They weren't supposed to be lying here, hours after what is necessary. And he definitely shouldn't have taught her how to play a guitar.

He was a _prince._

And she was a _whore._

With the sudden feel of impropriety, she rolls herself the furthest away she possibly can, feels his hand slip off her body and onto the bed before she sits up.

''You need to go.''

At those words, he's sitting up, too.

''What? Why?''

''You just need to.''

He looks around the room, his hand clenching the covers. ''Is this about Zelena?''

She looks away, closing her eyes and biting her lip. Of course it's about Zelena. Zelena is his fiancée. He should be saying all this to her, not to Regina.

''Just go to your fiancée, Robin.''

Regina hears him sigh as she opens her eyes. The bed shifts and creaks as he climbs out of it. He begins picking up his clothes as he says, _I can never love her, you know._

She knows and she fights back the tears as she says, ''And you can never love me.''

She turns away before she can get a look at his reaction. Pulls the covers over her and curls up into a ball.

There's a moment of silence, just Robin breathing and Regina silently crying before footsteps head to the door and Robin is gone.

Most of the candles have burned out. The room cast in a dim glow. She no longer feels the happiness she felt before. Nor the safety. She freezes when she hears a grunt come from outside her door. She is far from in the mood for late night visitors right now, Leo and his _rules_ be damned. When the grunting gets further away, Regina relaxes.

She turns to her other side and stops when she sees the guitar still propped against the wall. Would he be back for it? What was she to do with it? Part of her wanted to throw it away, forget it ever existed, but the other part...

What happened tonight wasn't supposed to happen. Yet that guitar, the music it played, and the man that played it...it changed something.

Maybe she shouldn't have been so mean.


End file.
